I've never been to a Maggie Rita's and probably never will. Tex Mex doesn't need to be a chain restaurant...it needs to be a hole in the wall next to Kroger or in some obscure plaza. If it's a stand-alone restaurant, the parking lot has to be unpaved and the building itself on blocks. The only chain that gets a pass is Lube Tortilla's...

I'm assuming you mean Lupe Tortillas...unless their tortillas just slide down your throat.

But Lupe is pretty damn good. My favorite Tex-Mex place in Houston is Lopez Mexican Restaurant. It actually started as a little hole in the wall place about 40 years ago. Started making bank (my dad estimated they were pulling in $5 million a year, and they could only seat about 50 people at a time in the old restaurant). There would literally be a line an hour long wrapping around the shopping center.

They finally opened a free-standing location that's huge. Nothing changed about the food which is great, and they refuse to expand, since everyone still comes to them anyway.

When I was a kid, there used to be this old, blind, crippled Mexican woman who operated a one-wheeled cart in a back alley strewn with hypodermic needles and used condoms. She would cook Mexican food on a hot plate -- we would stand there for about an hour waiting for it to get warm enough to eat, and then she would give it to us in a torn paper bag and sob gratefully into her arthritis-twisted hands when we tossed her a few dimes as payment. I don't what there was about it, but that was the best, most authentic Mexican food I've ever had. It's a shame you never had the chance to try it (and you probably never will, Carmelita -- that was her name, Carmelita -- died a few years ago from exposure, at least that's what I heard), but that's why I'll never be able to eat Mexican food out of a chain restaurant. It's depressing, actually, that so many people have no idea what they're missing.

Non-chain tex mex food requires being in the area in and around the Texican and Mexican border.

It's much easier to just eat some inauthentic Vagetas and wash it down with some Two X beer than to board a plane for the real thing.

Kind of like how Americans find it easier to eat American beef from a cow born and raised the American way that just happens to have ancestors that were cattle in Kobe and just pay 30% more for the "wagyuu" stamp because it's cheaper than going to Kobe.

As soon as you can email food, my man, we'll fix the whole damn planet up with the good eats.

A year ago, Maggie Rita's co-owner Santiago Moreno gave a now infamous interview to Eater Houston, in which he told editor Eric Sandler that "our clients are old Taco Bell clients who grew up with Taco Bell as Mexican food," with "palates [that] don't appreciate what we grew up with as Mexican food."

With condescension like that, no wonder they have had to close down most of their locations.

loveblondieo:With condescension like that, no wonder they have had to close down most of their locations.

I don't know... aiming for the lowest common denominator with minimum flavor has worked well for Applebee's. Of all the national chains, they always stick out in my mind as having the least appealing, blandest food.

loveblondieo:A year ago, Maggie Rita's co-owner Santiago Moreno gave a now infamous interview to Eater Houston, in which he told editor Eric Sandler that "our clients are old Taco Bell clients who grew up with Taco Bell as Mexican food," with "palates [that] don't appreciate what we grew up with as Mexican food."

With condescension like that, no wonder they have had to close down most of their locations.

It's probably a safe bet to skip any restaurant designed around a marketing premise rather than what the chef wants to cook.

doglover:Pocket Ninja: so many people have no idea what they're missing.

Non-chain tex mex food requires being in the area in and around the Texican and Mexican border.

It's much easier to just eat some inauthentic Vagetas and wash it down with some Two X beer than to board a plane for the real thing.

Kind of like how Americans find it easier to eat American beef from a cow born and raised the American way that just happens to have ancestors that were cattle in Kobe and just pay 30% more for the "wagyuu" stamp because it's cheaper than going to Kobe.

As soon as you can email food, my man, we'll fix the whole damn planet up with the good eats.

Pre-Katrina, New Orleans had virtually no good Mexican food places, but afterwards, when we had a huge influx of HIspanic labor, taco trucks began springing up all over the place. Some of those guys stuck around and opened restaurants. There are some really, really good authentic Mexican restaurants here now, many of them holes-in-the-wall where you can walk in and hear 90% of the people inside speaking Spanish - both employees and customers. It's probably not the same as being in a border town, of course, but there is some really good Mexican fare in this town now.

Also, American Wagyu beef is a freaking rip off. Japan doesn't export Kobe beef out of Japan and only 3000 head of cattle per year get certified as "Kobe." What sets Kobe beef apart is not only the breed, but the diet and methods by which the cattle are raised. If you want to enjoy a top-notch American steak, find a butcher that deals in grass-fed beef. It's not always as tender as grain-fed, water-logged mass produced beef, but the flavor is light years better.

scottydoesntknow:UberDave: The only chain that gets a pass is Lube Tortilla's...

I'm assuming you mean Lupe Tortillas...unless their tortillas just slide down your throat.

Ok, I don't know how in the hell I typed "Lube" by accident!

But Lupe is pretty damn good. My favorite Tex-Mex place in Houston is Lopez Mexican Restaurant. It actually started as a little hole in the wall place about 40 years ago. Started making bank (my dad estimated they were pulling in $5 million a year, and they could only seat about 50 people at a time in the old restaurant). There would literally be a line an hour long wrapping around the shopping center.

They finally opened a free-standing location that's huge. Nothing changed about the food which is great, and they refuse to expand, since everyone still comes to them anyway.

Cool. I don't think I've ever been to Lopez. I'll need to try that out soon. I'm out that way all the time.

The best Mexican food in Indianapolis is in a bright yellow building just north of 38th street on high school road. The parking lot is unpaved and the roof leaks, but if you want good Mexican food. That is the place. I can't think of the name because we call it Banana Amigos.

It's definitely nothing special. Especially compared to the original Ninfa's on Navigation that's still open. There is one in the tunnels downtown and it's usually not all that crowded. On occasion people will get them to cater lunches at work and people always complain about it. There are definitely hundreds of better places in Houston to get Mexican food.

scottydoesntknow:UberDave: The only chain that gets a pass is Lube Tortilla's...

I'm assuming you mean Lupe Tortillas...unless their tortillas just slide down your throat.

But Lupe is pretty damn good. My favorite Tex-Mex place in Houston is Lopez Mexican Restaurant. It actually started as a little hole in the wall place about 40 years ago. Started making bank (my dad estimated they were pulling in $5 million a year, and they could only seat about 50 people at a time in the old restaurant). There would literally be a line an hour long wrapping around the shopping center.

They finally opened a free-standing location that's huge. Nothing changed about the food which is great, and they refuse to expand, since everyone still comes to them anyway.

I'm gonna 'fess up to being an unsophisticated mexican food diner. What should I try next time I go out in order to expand my palate. Bear in mind I live in the stix of Maryland, so I don't have access to POCKETNINJAS back alley Mexican Lady.

fireclown:I'm gonna 'fess up to being an unsophisticated mexican food diner. What should I try next time I go out in order to expand my palate. Bear in mind I live in the stix of Maryland, so I don't have access to POCKETNINJAS back alley Mexican Lady.

It doesn't get much better than a taco (corn or flour tortilla) with carne asada, a little cilantro and onion, and some fresh lime juice squeezed over it. That said, Mexican soups are underrated, specifically Menudo. You just need to find an authentic Mexican restaurant. It's less about what you order as opposed to where you order it...